Best Handheld Gaming Consoles of 2017

When we hear the word GAMING, we start thinking of a cool room with a big high definition TV along with giant speakers and a PC or a gaming console placed on an ultimate desk. That’s because the gaming consoles have always gotten attention, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have Portable Gaming Fans, yes! I am talking about the handheld gaming consoles that have retained their place in the market since decades.

Nintendo, Sony PSP and the GAMEBOY are the ones that started the trend of portable gaming when no body had even thought of having a smartphone that can enable us to play games on a handheld device.

We can also say that smartphones have almost put portable gaming devices to an end because there are very few people who want to spend around $200 on a dedicated handheld gaming device while they can get a proper smartphone in a little more money and many more features. Your $200 or $300 won’t just be invested on a gaming device.

But on the other hand no matter how fast and big screened your smartphone is, it will never give you that level of satisfaction that a dedicated portable gaming device can. I mean you don’t get to have physical buttons in your smartphone while playing game and the battery backup can be another issue.

2017 has been a good and interesting year for portable gaming, one of the biggest names in the game NINTENDO has came up with a whole new level of gaming that will make people turn back to the portable gaming scene. Lets take a look at some of the portable gaming devices that are still worth getting your hands on, including the next big thing by Nintendo.

The New Hybrid Nintendo Switch:

Ever dreamt of having a gaming console that is a proper home gaming as well as portable? YES! We have it now! Nintendo earlier this year announced their brand new hybrid gaming console by the name of NINTENDO SWITCH. And it’s going big and caught good attention in the gaming community.

Nintendo Switch is basically a home gaming console that can be turned into a portable handheld gaming device. You just have to attach the portable controllers with the device and it will turn into a handheld gaming console. So now you can enjoy the same games on your handheld device that you are playing at home on your TV.

It is understandable that only a few games will be available on this hybrid gaming console like Pokémon, Super Smash Brothers and Mario. These are all fun, quick games that you can enjoy but you’d have more games coming on this device in future. It’s a totally new concept and will surely take time to create its place. Nintendo Switch has good colorful graphics with HD rumble and two controllers. It’s also very easy to carry. Price for the new Nintendo Switch is $300.

Nintendo 3DS XL:

This portable gaming device is a PlayStation Vita killer, yes! Nintendo overruled the PS Vita soon after it came out. Even though Nintendo was on top for over two decades before the first Sony’s PlayStation came out and took the crown of best selling portable gaming console with a huge fan following.

Nintendo 3DS XL is bigger and the best version of the original 3DS, it comes with a dual touch larger screen that enables you to enjoy 3D games without the glasses and that’s the beauty of this portable gaming console. It doesn’t require 3D glasses for its 3D games and its very user-friendly. It lets you adjust the level of 3D or you can even turn off the 3D mode on the console.

3DS XL has a good pretty decent graphics but you will have to re-purchase the games for XL version of the 3DS console, which is a major turn off. The 3DS series can also run all the DS series games. 3DS XL is not the lightest handheld gaming device in the market though. It weighs around 12 ounces with a 4.99” upper (main) and 4.18” lower touchscreen with a resolution of 800×240 and 240×240 respectively.

The device some with a stylus for better control on the touchpad, you can also you the physical button and the stylus at the same time with some of the games. The battery backup of 3DS XL is not so great and it hardly gives you 3 to 4hrs of backup with one full charge.
Nintendo 3DS XL costs around $185.

Sony PlayStation VITA:

Released in 2012, with over 4 million units sold, this is the most liked handheld gaming device in the market with lots of other-than-gaming features. PS Vita got so much attention being a unique and different from its older precedents. But it has lost its charm now and people are interested in offerings that Nintendo has now. The DS series, then 3Ds and now Switch has really got the attention of the portable gaming freaks. PS Vita’s new version is PS Vita Slim but we aren’t talking about that.

PS Vita has a beautiful design body with glossy and elegant touch, and has a decent graphics too but considering today’s graphics and screen PS Vita’s screen looks kind of old and outdated. It comes with a really great battery life that can give you backup for days in sleep mode.

PS Vita runs almost all the PlayStation games with a huge collection to choose from and the PlayStation Network provide the online gaming too. Though the exclusive games for PS Vita are not that much.

PS Vita has a really good physical buttons with a built-in joystick, which is Sony’s unique feature. However the memory cards are still very expensive compared to the other memory cards in the market that I think is one of the negative side of having this portable gaming device.
PS Vita costs around $215.

Nvidia Shield:

This company has a very good reputation in producing powerful graphics for the PC gamers. Nvidia has a great name in PC gaming and it’s people’s first choice.
Nvidia came up with this brilliant concept of playing your favorite PC game on your handheld device even if you are not at your home. YES!! Nvidia Shield is created to let you remotely wake up your PC and play games anywhere in the world. There is a 5” HD touch screen attached to a joystick that let you play your favorite games from your PC. Its basically a mobile streaming device that stream from your PC by remotely waking it up and letting your play 100s of games that are specially optimized for Nvidia Shield. But you need a GeForce Nvidia graphics card for all of this. This portable gaming device has 2Gb processor and 16Gb storage with a quad-core processor.

There is a lot more to this awesome gaming device. If you don’t want to play games via your PC you can simply turn this console into an android device and enjoy playing android games like angry birds, CSR Racing etc. other than that you can also connect Nvidia Shield with your TV and enjoy playing games or watching HD movies on your TV.
Nvidia Shield has a 6 hours battery backup and it costs around $220.

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